More carmakers caught in headlights of VW engine-rigging scandal

More carmakers caught in headlights of VW engine-rigging scandal
Volkswagen has admitted it installed illegal software into 11 million 2.0 liter and 3.0 liter diesel engines worldwide (AFP Photo/Josh Edelson)

Volkswagen emissions scandal

Iran's 'catastrophic mistake': Speculation, pressure, then admission

Iran's 'catastrophic mistake': Speculation, pressure, then admission
Analsyts say it is irresponsible to link the crash of a Ukraine International Airline Boeing 737-800 to the 737 MAX accidents (AFP Photo/INA FASSBENDER)

Missing MH370 likely to have disintegrated mid-flight: experts

Missing MH370 likely to have disintegrated mid-flight: experts
A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 commercial jet.

QZ8501 (AirAsia)

Leaders see horror of French Alps crash as probe gathers pace

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Air Ticket Scalpers Bypass Security in Indonesia

Jakarta Globe, Straits Times Indonesia | February 06, 2011     

Ticket touts are making use of security loopholes at Indonesia's airports to sell tickets on domestic flights at inflated prices, as they prey on travellers desperate for a ticket during busy periods.

Lax security at Indonesian airports allow domestic travelers
to fly using tickets under other people's names purchased
 from scalpers. (SP Photo)  
While the Indonesian government is boosting security in airline travel with new biometric passports and electronic identity cards, one major gap remains.

Travelers — whether local or foreign — who fly within Indonesia are required to produce formal identification before they board their flights, but this rule is often not closely enforced.

This has allowed ticket cartels to spring up at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta airport — where 44 million domestic passengers passed through last year — hawking domestic air tickets registered under random names.

Analysts say the security loophole could allow all sorts of criminals, including terror suspects on the run, to move around the country.

The Sunday Times spoke to four ticket touts at the airport's domestic terminal who explained the process, though they did not want to be named.

It starts with travel agents making advance block bookings of seats on various airlines in busy travel periods, such as long weekends or festive holidays. The reservations are made under fake names — something that cannot be done with international flights, as this requires passport numbers to be given.

Armed with the tickets, touts then linger near the ticket counters on the day of the flight, looking out for passengers who are turned away because flights are full or the tickets cost too much to buy on the spot.

"Agents know that domestic flights during holidays can go for as much as Rp 5 million ($555) one way," said a licensed tour agent based in central Jakarta. "So they'll block seats early, buy them for as little as Rp 200,000, and sell them off for Rp 1 million."

Sometimes, he said, the touts even work in cahoots with airline ticketing staff, who sell off the tickets of passengers who do not arrive early enough to check in. Check-in counters on domestic flights usually close 20 minutes before take-off.

All this is possible because security checks on domestic flights are lax, he added, and security staff rarely hassle the touts — or are allegedly bribed to turn a blind eye.

It was common, said the travel agent, for licensed travel agents to check in their clients without having to produce any form of identification. "The airlines don't care who flies as the ticket is already paid for," he claimed.

Travelers' identities are checked more thoroughly on international flights, but even so, rogue tax official Gayus Tambunan recently managed to visit a few Asian countries on a fake passport while supposedly in police custody.

Transport Ministry spokesman Bambang Ervan admitted that the lax identification checks were an "administrative problem," but maintained that the authorities took safety seriously and passengers were screened thoroughly before they boarded their flights.

Indonesia has in recent years tightened security as part of efforts to clamp down on terrorism. Last month, the government launched its first biometric passports, which it hopes will help prevent the use of forged ones.

It has also started a registration process to give Indonesians a single identity number — making for better tracking — starting with Jakarta residents, though this will take a while to cover the whole country.

This article is brought to you by Straits Times Indonesia and the Jakarta Globe.  For a daily subscription to the Straits Times Indonesia print edition, call 021 2553 5055.

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